We started fermentation of the Frontenac on Saturday. We actually harvested these grapes on Labor Day and did a week-long cold soak while it rained continually last week.
We have two batches of Petite Pearl working now. The first is small and came from our 60 Petite Pearl vines at Meadowcreek Vineyard. We ran this batch through the seed trap to remove most of the seeds. Because this is already wine, the alcohol will extract bitter tannins from the seeds. So, we remove most of the seeds and leave the wine sitting on the skins in order to extract as much of the flavor as possible from the skins. The second batch is much bigger and is from Petite Pearl grapes we purchased. This batch is still fermenting and this week, we’ll add nutrients to keep the yeast happy through the end of the fermentation process.
St. Croix is still fermenting and we will add nutrients to these tanks, too this week. Our Foch will be run through the seed trap and will finish fermentation about mid-week. We’ll process the Sabrevois as soon as the vineyards dry out. And, we will rack the Brianna off the yeast lees because this fermentation is now complete. We are making some dry red wine in Macrobins that we’ve been punching down three times per day. These wines are almost done fermenting.
